If for whatever reason you’re installation of Tiberian Sun was incomplete or you have a copy of the game that’s missing a few files you’ll likely run into this startup error:

"Failed to initialize. Please reinstall."

If you encountered this error while installing from disk it’s possible your disk is damaged and you won’t be able to install from it. If you got the game from a torrent (cough pirated) it’s possible the uploader did a poor job pirating the game and some files may be missing. Whatever the case, the game is freeware now so you can download the full working client legally from here. Make sure you read through the setup instructions and possible errors on that post before continuing.

If you’ve installed the TFD version of Tiberian Sun and followed the setup steps for your specific operating system and still see this error there is a slight chance that your registry is what’s causing this issue. You can try some of the following steps to try and resolve this issue:

Make sure the game is installed in the right directory. The First Decade version of Tiberian Sun expects to be installed in C:\Program Files\. Your full game path should be as follows:C:\Program Files\EA Games\Command & Conquer The First Decade\Command & Conquer(tm) Tiberian Sun(tm)\SUNIf you don’t have the game installed in this directory the included shortcuts and registry patch will not work. You can simply move your extracted EA Games folder to C:\Program Files\ if it isn’t there already

Remove all Tiberian Sun registry entries. Do this only if you’re familiar with registry modification. In some rare cases invalid registry entries can cause this error to appear. Once you’ve done this install the TFD version again.

Run tibsun_regadd.reg. If you installed the TFD version of Tiberian Sun properly this file will be located in:C:\Program Files\EA Games\Command & Conquer The First Decade
Make sure this is your exact path for your Tiberian Sun installation before running the registry script.

If you’ve followed the above steps and are still having issues with the Tiberian Sun Failed to Initialize error, please post in the comments below. To increase your chances of a solution being found include as much detail as possible (which version of the game you’re running, what operating system you have, what video card you have and steps to reproduce the issue). Screenshots are also very useful!